Comedian Andy Andrist Confronts Man Who Molested Him as a Child

By on February 4, 2013 in News 44

Following comedian Andy Andrist’s onstage admission that he had been molested as a boy, he and friend Doug Stanhope decided to track down the man who did it and confront him on camera. I understand that a documentary is in the works. Here’s one small excerpt.

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  • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

    Reminded me of when I was being treated for ADD by this guy:
    http://www.meetingstreet.org/AboutMeetingStreet/OurHistory/tabid/152/Default.aspx
    http://www.riheritagehalloffame.org/inductees_detail.cfm?iid=53

    Perfect M.O. for a kiddy fiddler. Become a pediatrician specializing in young kids with neurological problems, that probably won’t talk because they often can’t.

    He pioneered research into ADD/ADHD back when it was called “hyper-activity” Anyway the guys been dead since 1982. Can’t confront him. But I give Andrist a lot of credit. Its a brave thing to do. Part of the problem is the stigma that being sexually abused is like a vampire bite that turns all victims into kiddy fiddlers, when they grow up, which is a complete fallacy.

  • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

    Reminded me of when I was being treated for ADD by this guy:
    http://www.meetingstreet.org/AboutMeetingStreet/OurHistory/tabid/152/Default.aspx
    http://www.riheritagehalloffame.org/inductees_detail.cfm?iid=53

    Perfect M.O. for a kiddy fiddler. Become a pediatrician specializing in young kids with neurological problems, that probably won’t talk because they often can’t.

    He pioneered research into ADD/ADHD back when it was called “hyper-activity” Anyway the guys been dead since 1982. Can’t confront him. But I give Andrist a lot of credit. Its a brave thing to do. Part of the problem is the stigma that being sexually abused is like a vampire bite that turns all victims into kiddy fiddlers, when they grow up, which is a complete fallacy.

    • Apathesis

      Sorry to hear about that. I am thankful everyday that I was never mistreated. Child rapists and the like are the kinds of monsters I abhor the most.

      • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

        I didn’t get raped though. It could have been worse. Kind of confused me for a while though. For a while I thought my problems in school were caused by my penis. I couldn’t figure out why he wanted to examine my penis. I didn’t see the connection. I was eight years old. So I asked him about it and I think me verbalizing it discouraged him from continuing the abuse. I never told anybody until I was grown up.

        I was sexually abused also by a female babysitter I had around the same time. That was a lot worse. I think it caused more serious psychological problems. I didn’t tell anyone about that either. All around the same time, when I was eight years old, my parents got divorced, I developed severe allergies and started having problems in school and got sexually abused. 1979 was a tough year for me. My feeling is that a lot of little boys are really stoic. For some reason we think we have to go it alone.

        I can really relate to Andrist. Confronting this stuff is a type of recapitulation. You carry a lot of shame from this type of thing, without really knowing why because it happens at an early age before you could integrate it. You kind of disassociate from it. But its there in your sub-conscious mind exerting control over you. When you confront these people you reclaim a lost part of yourself. In Shamanism this is called “soul retrieval”

        • Matt Staggs

          YOU are a brave soul.

          • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

            Thanks, Man.

          • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

            Thanks, Man.

          • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

            Thanks, Man.

        • Apathesis

          I agree. Confrontation can be very therapeutic. I don’t think many of the victims I’ve known ever had the opportunity or the strength to confront their abusers, so they’ve lost out on that “soul retrieval.” Sorry if you thought I insinuated that you were raped, I just don’t particularly like using the sanitized term ‘molester’. I feel what they do is far more insidious, but that’s me and it’s an issue that has always greatly angered, saddened and disturbed me.

          I have a little story of my own:

          My ex’s stepfather was a strange guy. Really friendly. Told me he loved me numerous times. Bought me a laptop. Convinced me to go skinny dipping with his wife and my girlfriend (at the time). I found at later after we had broken up that he had sex with one of her previous boyfriends. Being a VERY large man, I found that news disturbing and scary. Was it consensual? Was he looking at ME like that? Would he take “NO” for an answer? It disturbed me a lot when I first heard it, and it still does. What if…?

          I had a strange feeling about him the whole time I was with her and when I found that out, it seemed like he was trying to ‘groom’ me. My mother was actually the first to use that term to describe what she thought had been going on. She felt it was very odd for him to buy me a laptop, especially after I told her about the skinny dipping.

          I’m not saying I was going to be a victim, or that I was. I am just grateful I didn’t stick around to find out.

          Anyway, I commend you on sharing your story. Not everyone can do that.

          • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

            Its good to listen to your instincts about people. There is a very good book called “the Gift of Fear”

          • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

            Its good to listen to your instincts about people. There is a very good book called “the Gift of Fear”

          • Matt Staggs

            Read it. Very good suggestion.

          • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

            I actually quoted that book to my employers once. I was taking my client, who was a man with a brain injury and developmental disabilities, to his Therapist. His Therapist really made me uneasy and creeped me out. I couldn’t put my finger on why. But I made a note of it to my supervisor and mentioned that book. I basically said that if I was a parent and this client was my kid, I wouldn’t take him to this therapist, because I just have a really bad feeling about him. So they documented what I said and I insisted I attend all therapy sessions present with the client. Eventually he started displaying all this weird behavior, calling off sessions, blowing up at clients, lying about stuff and just acting really bizarrely. They got him a new therapist and this Guy last I heard was no longer practicing.

            I think what I said confirmed to people what they felt and so they all paid much closer attention to him. People have red flags all the time. Its not fool proof, but often if you pay attention to them a rational reason will appear soon enough.

          • dianna

            Very good book! Gavin de Becker also wrote a follow up to that book specifically for parents about predators called Protecting the Gift. I don’t have any kids but I was walking up to my best friend’s apartment block and her creepy old man neighbor was staring at her son playing in the yard from his balcony and I let her know….I didn’t know it at the time but she had already found signs he was being sexually abused but they were gently trying to find out if they were right and who was doing it…unfortunately my instincts were correct and it was him. I think people are afraid of raising concerns and/or instincts because they are afraid of falsely accusing people but when it comes to children, their safety has to come first.

          • dianna

            Very good book! Gavin de Becker also wrote a follow up to that book specifically for parents about predators called Protecting the Gift. I don’t have any kids but I was walking up to my best friend’s apartment block and her creepy old man neighbor was staring at her son playing in the yard from his balcony and I let her know….I didn’t know it at the time but she had already found signs he was being sexually abused but they were gently trying to find out if they were right and who was doing it…unfortunately my instincts were correct and it was him. I think people are afraid of raising concerns and/or instincts because they are afraid of falsely accusing people but when it comes to children, their safety has to come first.

          • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

            Yeah, I think maybe people are afraid of falsely accusing others but I also think people are conditioned to listen to their “rational” minds over their body/gut/intuition etc.

            In a lot of situations, when nothing has happened, when nothing has happened yet, no need to accuse anyone, just get yourself or your loved one, out of the situation.

            Its like a warning at that point.

          • Apathesis

            I’m sorry to hear about your friend’s son. I hope they moved and got him some help.

        • Apathesis

          I agree. Confrontation can be very therapeutic. I don’t think many of the victims I’ve known ever had the opportunity or the strength to confront their abusers, so they’ve lost out on that “soul retrieval.” Sorry if you thought I insinuated that you were raped, I just don’t particularly like using the sanitized term ‘molester’. I feel what they do is far more insidious, but that’s me and it’s an issue that has always greatly angered, saddened and disturbed me.

          I have a little story of my own:

          My ex’s stepfather was a strange guy. Really friendly. Told me he loved me numerous times. Bought me a laptop. Convinced me to go skinny dipping with his wife and my girlfriend (at the time). I found at later after we had broken up that he had sex with one of her previous boyfriends. Being a VERY large man, I found that news disturbing and scary. Was it consensual? Was he looking at ME like that? Would he take “NO” for an answer? It disturbed me a lot when I first heard it, and it still does. What if…?

          I had a strange feeling about him the whole time I was with her and when I found that out, it seemed like he was trying to ‘groom’ me. My mother was actually the first to use that term to describe what she thought had been going on. She felt it was very odd for him to buy me a laptop, especially after I told her about the skinny dipping.

          I’m not saying I was going to be a victim, or that I was. I am just grateful I didn’t stick around to find out.

          Anyway, I commend you on sharing your story. Not everyone can do that.

        • Apathesis

          I agree. Confrontation can be very therapeutic. I don’t think many of the victims I’ve known ever had the opportunity or the strength to confront their abusers, so they’ve lost out on that “soul retrieval.” Sorry if you thought I insinuated that you were raped, I just don’t particularly like using the sanitized term ‘molester’. I feel what they do is far more insidious, but that’s me and it’s an issue that has always greatly angered, saddened and disturbed me.

          I have a little story of my own:

          My ex’s stepfather was a strange guy. Really friendly. Told me he loved me numerous times. Bought me a laptop. Convinced me to go skinny dipping with his wife and my girlfriend (at the time). I found at later after we had broken up that he had sex with one of her previous boyfriends. Being a VERY large man, I found that news disturbing and scary. Was it consensual? Was he looking at ME like that? Would he take “NO” for an answer? It disturbed me a lot when I first heard it, and it still does. What if…?

          I had a strange feeling about him the whole time I was with her and when I found that out, it seemed like he was trying to ‘groom’ me. My mother was actually the first to use that term to describe what she thought had been going on. She felt it was very odd for him to buy me a laptop, especially after I told her about the skinny dipping.

          I’m not saying I was going to be a victim, or that I was. I am just grateful I didn’t stick around to find out.

          Anyway, I commend you on sharing your story. Not everyone can do that.

    • VaudeVillain

      I am so sorry.

      I realize that means shit, and I have no idea if you even want my sympathy… but there it is.

      • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

        thanks.

      • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

        thanks.

    • Andrew

      Thanks for stepping forwards and speaking out. Every little bit helps all of us survivors. I think time is very near for a public dialogue about the sexual abuse of males.

  • http://www.facebook.com/axisofinfinity Aaron Krauser

    Tim heidecker???

    • HighAsHell

      Yeah, like when he was making plans to confront this guy on video, he knew it was going to be an “Awesome show, great job!”.

    • HighAsHell

      Yeah, like when he was making plans to confront this guy on video, he knew it was going to be an “Awesome show, great job!”.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Patsy-Buvoltz/100000330426516 Patsy Buvoltz

    Sweet and worth waiting for. Someone I’d like to confront even tho 40 years have gone by. If his wife could be there it would be even better… Revenge can be VERY sweet.

    • Mr B

      My own such revenge (exposé graffiti across his house) was instantly liberating.

      • Apathesis

        Awesome.

      • Apathesis

        Awesome.

      • Apathesis

        Awesome.

  • Mr B

    In the last few years, it has astonished me to learn the degree of concealed child molestation there is in at least Western society.

    For example:

    ‘Former Child Star Corey Feldman: Paedophilia Rampant in Hollywood’
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOZQHxJlD6g

    • smooth_operator

      Read the Belgian X-Dossiers at Wikispooks and you’ll get a sense of just how insane the abuse can be (ritual torture, murder, etc.), how organized the criminal networks are, and the type of powerful people involved. A lot of that stuff you just can’t make up, such as the reported child hunts where kids are let loose in European forests and hunted down by participants with dobermans and other hunting dogs. There are some damn sick people in high places. I won’t even go into the sexual abuse on a message board. People can read that stuff for themselves.

  • Bruteloop

    I was molested as a kid. By someone close to my family. I can’t speak about now but I think it used to happen way more than people think.
    Thing is I’m gay so it just added a whole other level of guilt and confusion to my dealing with that. Irony was that when I turned the tables and at 18 years of age propositioned a monk (it was a catholic school in England) when drunk the shit really hit the fan. I was removed from the school the next day but as I was a good Oxbridge student it was decided I would be allowed back. However, I had to have all my remaining tutorials in the nearby village, was escorted to and from my desk at each exam, ate all of my meals alone with a ‘guard’ and was forbidden to speak to anyone. I did it all because my parents were not wealthy and it had been made clear to me how much they had invested in my education, how much they had sacrificed. As well as how ashamed they were of me.
    While this was happening two monks were regularly abusing younger boys. One was in charge of the junior school and abusing 8 year olds. Both ended up in prison but 20 years later after the Church had protected them as long as they could.
    It screwed me up for a few years but was actually a very good lesson in just how quickly people can turn on you and just how much the perceived ‘system’ is based on a whole pack of lies.
    It also made me all the more determined to prove that faggots can have happy lives.
    I’ve been having one for the past 25 years.

    • http://twitter.com/TedHeistman Ted Heistman

      wow that’s messed up. Guilt, shame, manipulation.

    • Andrew

      Being an ex-Catholic, I can relate to parts of your story. I was molested by an older “friend” who was a Baptist. He liked to talk about the end of the world, the violent parts of the Old Testament, and Hell. I only remembered what happened a few years ago in a PTSD-style flashback. I was not discussing it with a therapist at the time, so the chance that it was a false memory is slim.

      Interestingly, since then I’ve found out that my two favorite priests during my Catholicism have been accused of sexual abuse. I don’t remember anything happening between them and me though, fortunately, but it’s disturbing nonetheless.

  • Andrew

    I look forwards to their documentary.

  • mole_face

    I’ve always assumed that pedophilia is way more prevalent than most people think.

    When I was nine, my mother took me to a low-income health clinic. The doctor had my mom wait outside the room in a chair next to the doorway, then he briefly stuck his hand down my pants and squeezed my dick before starting the checkup. At the time I thought it was standard procedure(something to do with “turn your head and cough”), but it didn’t dawn on me until years later that the asshole had sexually groped me. It was more creepy than traumatic, though I always was astounded by the sheer brazenness of the act – he didn’t even bother shutting the door.

    Sadly, more than a decade passed before anyone else touched my genitals.

  • Whirled Peas

    For those of you without a brain to discern fact from reality, this is nothing but a dumb frat boy prank – publicity stunt. If this story had any meat to it you can be sure the likes of TMZ and Gawker would have picked it up by now. But the fact is there are no facts other than what Andy says because there’s no way to fact check something that doesn’t exist. There is no guy named Stephen Spleen who sued Andy to stop him from releasing this video (which has now been removed) after suing him for defamation. Look it up.

    Andy and his video producer buddy Doug Stanhope spoofed a few news reporters with fake court documents to generate publicity. The did it by sending out official-looking press releases to minor publications who are always so hard up for any story at all they don’t bother fact checking. And only one really took the bait.

    Now they are trying to pass off a video that doesn’t prove anything as a “documentary” everyone should be concerned about and watch on YouTube. Except they took the “trailer” of it down and nobody knows what to think anymore. If I subscribe to their mailing list maybe they’ll let me pay $19.95 to see the whole video where the actual molester admits to fudge packing…or something.

    • Andrew

      Yeah, I’ll take the word of a guy who starts off his rant with verbal abuse as to who was or wasn’t abused as a child and by whom.

      • Whirled Peas

        So where’s the actual footage of the molester admitting to molesting you, as was promised by Andrew, Andrew? Do we have to send you $19.95 to watch it? And why did you take the “trailer” down?

    • Whirled Peas

      One last note. Doug Stanhope is also the author of a self-published book entitled “Fun With Pedophiles: The Best of Baiting”

  • Whirled Peas

    Well, even though Andy and his minions decided to take down their video trailer of the “bad guy”, I have it right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9N87wRfWFY

    Judge for yourself.